Greene wants to make Virginia great again; praises Tyree’s blazing speed

By Jerry Ratcliffe

The relationship goes back to ninth grade when Malcolm Greene was at Highland Springs High School and Chris Tyree played at Thomas Dale. While they knew each other, aware of the talent each possessed, they only met once on the field of play, in Greene’s junior year.

After high school, they went their separate ways. Greene was recruited by Clemson, Tyree went to Notre Dame. Twist of fate and they’re both on the same team now, teammates at Virginia after transferring.

“Chris has always been a guy that I’ve been pretty cool with and good friends with, but being able to be on the same team as him, experience brotherhood, being his teammate, learning the ins and outs of him, that bond is something I truly appreciate,” Greene said.

Greene is a fifth-year cornerback and is often matched up in practice with fifth-year Tyree, a slot receiver.

Tyree’s reputation preceded his transfer from Notre Dame, when he bolted into the Golden Dome record book by being one of four players in Irish football history to rush for a touchdown, score a receiving touchdown, run back a punt for a TD and return a kickoff for a score. The other three were Tim Brown, Rocket Ishmail and Julius Jones (former UVA All-American Thomas Jones’ brother).

Since transferring to Virginia, coach Tony Elliott has called Tyree the fastest player he’s ever worked with. Elliott was offensive coordinator at Clemson during the Tigers’ decade of excellence, which included two national titles.

Greene is in agreement with Elliott.

“[Tyree] is definitely one of the fastest guys that I’ve ever seen, one of the most hungry guys that I’ve ever seen and surely one of the most detailed, so iron sharpens iron every day and I’m grateful to have a guy like that on my team,” Greene said.

Now that they’re on the same team, Greene said both want to represent their state and the city of Richmond and do it the right way at Virginia.

While Greene is confident he can win his share of the matchups against Tyree, he still is blown away when he sees what the speedster can do, especially when it comes to kickoff returns.

“Oh my goodness,” Greene said. “Man, having a guy like that in the back, you’re always going to be fearful if you’re on the other side. Having a guy that you know is as fast as any other guy that you’re going to face, more experienced than any other guy you’ve ever faced, and a guy that doesn’t fear anybody that’s on the field, is just something that you want to have on your side.”

While praising his new teammate, Greene hasn’t forgotten his own goals to help the defense return to the fierceness of the days of Ronde Barber, the days of Chris Peace.

“I want to win the Jim Thorpe Award, I want to be able to express my knowledge, express the work that I put in and display it on the field,” Greene said. “I also want to glorify God in everything that I do. I want to reach heights at Virginia.

“I want to do that in the state of Virginia. I grew up here, I’ve lived here most of my life and I just want to bring success and glory to the defensive side of the ball.”